Lovegrove & Cotton Lawyers Bulletin

Arbitration Clauses in Building Contracts

When you sign a contract with an arbitration clause, understand that you are limiting yourself to arbitration and effectively, by force of contract, ousting the jurisdiction of the court. So understand the ramifications of the election. This piece amplifies the virtues and limitations of arbitrations.

Responding to Building Orders under the Victorian Building Act 1993

Failure to abide by building orders will have a very deleterious impact upon the respondent; be it an owner or a building practitioner. Building orders need to be treated like “sweating dynamite” as the consequences of not acting within the time speculated will indeed be serious. This piece explains processes and consequences of recalcitrant conduct.

Legal Requirements for Owner Builders in Victoria

Owner builder regulations have over the years grown in complexity and gravitas. Anybody intent on becoming an owner builder must be across the full spectrum of laws on point. This article traverses some of the apposite legal requirements for owner building in Victoria.

What Is Building Work?

Before you lift a spade on a building site, you better figure out whether that which you are embarking upon is classified as building work under Victorian Building Act 1993. Failure to carry out building work is illegal and translates into huge fines, for instance a natural person (i.e. a human being) can be fined up $77,730 for carrying out work without a building permit. This article sheds light upon that which constitutes building work and the reader may be surprised by the scope and extent of that which is captured by the building regulatory net.